Lire MALADMINISTRATION of LIBBY and ANDERSONVILLE PRISON CAMPS
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'lIRE MALADMINISTRATION OF LIBBY AND ANDERSONVILLE PRISON CAMPS A Study of Mismanagement and Inept Log1st1cal ~olic1es at Two Southern Pr1soner-of-war Camps during the C1v1l war In Accordance w1th the Requirements and Procedures of Interdepartmental 499.0 Under the Direction and Gu1dance of Doctor Will1am Eidson. Associate Professor of H1story. Ball State University Presented as a Senior Honors 'rhes1s by Dan1el Patrick Brown w1nter Quarter, 1971-72 Ball State Univers1ty i 7/::; I rec.ommend this thesis for acceptance by the Ball state Univers1ty Honors Program. Further, I endorse this thesis as valid reference material to be utilized in the Ball state University Library. ,i William G. Eidson, Department of History Thesis Advisor (Date) 'rHE MALADMINISTRATION OF LIBBY AND ANDERSONVILLE PRISON CAMPS INTRODUCTION Pr1soner-of-war suffer1ng has been perhaps the most un fortunate ram1ficat10n of war itself. It 1s th1s paper's purpose to analyze the orig1nal cause of pr1soner-of-war suffer1ng in the Confederate states of Amer1ca during the Amer1can C1v1l war. Certa1nly, the problem of leg1t1mate treatment of prisoners··of-war st1ll plagues mank1nd. The respons1bli ty of po11 tic:al states in the1r treatment of these pr1soners, the naturEI and character of the Confederate leaders accused of pr1sonElr cruelty, misappropr1at10n. and m1smanagement. and the adverse conditions naturally inherent with war; all, over a century after they became 'faits accomplis,' loom 1n the minds of po11t1cal and mi11tary leaders of today's world. In countlE~ss examples, from the newly estab11shed countr1es of Africa and As1a to the world's oldest democratic republic,* war crime::;' tr1als clearly demonstrate man' s continued search for the reasons of maltreatment to the victims of capture. In my research of two Confederate prisons, I have found myself concentrat1ng my attention on the quest10n, "why did *1 am referr1ng here to Biafra 1n Western Africa and Bangla Desh 1n Southeast Asia as well as the Un1ted States of America. .2 the prisoners-of-war have to suffer to the extent they did ?tt The spec1fic factors which have conditioned interest in the treatment of prisoners-of-war in our contemporary soc1ety are 1ntricate enough examined alone. Thus, when analyzed as a total, homogeneous conglomerate, the question of "why?" becomes even harder to decipher. Obviously. there is no one. single answer to this quest1on. The recurr1ng inhumane care of war prisoners has been exemplified poignantly on at least three d1fferent occasions since the Civil War.* If man is to 1mprove h1s situat10n in this world, he must attempt learn from past realities and the 1nevitable problems which follow immediately after the oonfliot. Equally, for man to understand 'why?' is for man to prevent 'why not?' Though there is an obvious differenoe between then and now. it is, also true that the very nature of prisoner-of-war administration histor1cally has encountered uniformity and similar1ty in analysis. Therefore. I have centered my inquiry upon 'recurring' aspeots of the prisoner-of-war question. I. 'HqrEr. a LIBBX' After the First Battle of r~ssas (called Bull Run by the Federal forces), the Confederates had an additional one thousand men (plus one Congressman speotator) suddenly in their possession. The oonfederate field commanders directed these Union prisoners toward the capital of the Conf~erate *Subsequent to World War II, the Korean Confliot of 1950-5J, and presently in the divided oountries of North and South Vietnam. 3 states of Amer1ca--R1ohmond, Virg1n1a. Caught off guard and needing a plaoe to put all these men, the Rebel Government quickly looked to the c1ty's available edifices. when the unexpected prisoners were brought to Richmond, they were conducted to an unused tobacco factory 1n the district of the clty known a8 Rockett' s. 'rhe officers were confined in a warehouse formerly belonglng to the firm of Llggon and Sons. ayd the men were placed 1n near-by bulld1ngs. One of the bu1ld1ngs, Libby (property of Libby and Son, Shlp Chandlers and Grocers), later called 'Hotel de Libb7' sardon- ically by some of 1ts inhabitants, was born in an era of bureaucratic necesslty. With the converslon of the ship chandlers' and tobacco warehouse into a prison, the three ensu1ng problems of narrow space, vent1lat10n, and san1tatlon were apparent. As the flux of pr'isoners-of-war progressed., the over-populatlon compounded, these dlre problems. The three-story bu11ding was hardly adequate for the numbers it housed. Orlg1nally, enlisted men were housed w1th the1r Un10n superiors, but they were qulckly moved to Belle Isle, Ii camp designed only for thelr grades. 'rh1s, actually, d1d not alleviate matters much as there was a walting l1st of offlcers deta1ned nearer the 11nes. These men were lmmedlately transported to L1bby. All the bulld1ngs (former warehouses) were 1n the same over-crowded cond1tlon and S. P. Moore, the Act1ng Surgeon-General of the Confederate Army, acknowledged 1Wil11am B. Hesseltine, Ciyil ~ Prisons, A study 1n ~ Psychology (New York, Frederick Ungar Publish1ng Co •• 1930), p. 57. 4 that the police of the prisons was very bad and. due to the crowded corldtions. it might give rise to pestilence and disease.2 He then recommended finding another building to alleviate EL potential danger to the inhabitants of Richmond. Since the tobacco barns had not been designed for human habi t ation, the problems involved in all the various functions of day-to-day 11v1ng (more aptly here, 'subs1sting') were immense' In the narrow 11mits of these s1x rooms were c~onfined for many months nearly eleven hundred United states officers, prisoners of war. Th1s included all our room for cQok1ng, eating, washing, bathing and sleeping.) 1111 th the eJ:tremely crowded conditions, such diseases as dysentery, diarrhea, and typhus rapidly spread and human suffering became commonplacEI. 'l'he limited area. also, was destined to become more limited. The paranoia of the citizenry of Richmond in the later stages of the war, with rumors running rampant of the prisoners attempting to break-out of Libby, caused l1aJor Thomas P. Turner. the Commandant of L1bby Pr1son, to curtail the living space even morel IYlarch 1 a86lU, Cloudy. cold. rainy. 'llhe first day of' Spring. Eight months of captivi ty I I 'rhe w1ndows are now all barred with iron, and have been so several weeks. 'rhis morning an order from ~*jor Turner was read that no clothes must be hung out to dry or air. under penalty of con- 2 U. S. iVar Department, ~ .m sa: !.bit Rebelli on' A QQ,m D1latlg,u ~. ~ Qfflcal Records Rt. ~ Union Im\ conf,derate Arml!s (washington, Government Printing Office. 1898, Series II, Volume III, p. 698. Hereafter cited as ~ and all references will be to Series II • .3 Alva C. Roach, l.b§. frlspner .m: .!Al:. &n£ .. 'l'r@alGed ( Indiana polis, j.'he Railroad City Publishing House t 186.5), p. 47. 5 fiscat10n and no one myst go to a w1ndow, under penalty or being ,hot. And this in rooms where each person gas a space only 6 feet long by ~ feet wid,t It Of course, the Confederates were primarily concerned wlth thelr Unlon capti,res signa11ng to sympathlzers of the Federal cause in Richmond. As General Dow stated in hls diary entry, lt is too much to stop prisoner movement near wlndows due to the already res"cricted amount of room. Certa1nly, thls seemed llke add1tional Rebel torturet OWing to the fact that vent1lat10n was not a cons1der- ation when the ship-chandlers' warehouse was erected, once the bu1ld1ng was converted 1nto a prlson, the human occupants had to suffer. During the summer, the pr1son was almost un- bearably hot with 11ttle breeze moving through the bu1lding. Prisoners simply restricted their movements, so as not to be- come caught, short of breath or persp1re and thereby lose body fluid they could ill afford to lose. Freder1c F. Cavada, then a prlsoner coming into Libby, depicts hls first 1mpress10ns of his priflon room ln July, 1863, as "long, low, dlngy, gloomy, and suffOC!Lt1ng ... 5 Tobacco warehouses, as a matter of fact, are designEtd to retain heat to keep the tobacco dry. 'l'h1s certainly lfas of no consolatlon to sweltering Union pr1.soners. Durlng the winter months, the sltuat10n was exactly re versed. Cl::>ld drafts whipped through Libby periodically .a the 4prank L. Byrne. "A General Beh1nd Bars' Neal Dow in Ll bby Prison.·· QUU .!Au: HlstQtX, VIII (June. 1962). 177. 5Prederic F. Cavada, L~~~~ ~a Exper1ences of ~ Pr1soner ~ ~ in R~ChmOnd. ~. 18 - 4 (Ph1ladelphla: J. B. Llpp1ncott & Co., 1865 • p. 23. 6 window panes were not correctly fitted and oracks were numerous in the old and inferior masonry. During the first winter, the situation was alleviated by heating f1res, but th1ngs got pro gressively worse, winter to winter. During the winter of 186)-64, Libby was extremely cold due to the laok of wood in Richmond for cooking and heating.6 'l'he next winter the 'rurner restriction on movement near the windows prevented any work on the main areas where cold air moved through the walla--namely, between the glass panes and w1ndow ledges. Also, this worsening situation created problems of movement on particularly cold, windy days, as inmates were, naturally, more inclined to draw one of their f11thy blankets about themselves and huddle. Certainly, there was not the room to move about much, thereby generating heat; consequently, they went to the opposite extreme and bundled themselves. Every soldier, once incarcerated, had to res1gn himself to minimal movement, for "they could not leave its narrow con:fines even for exercise." 7 Those prisoners-of-war in the top level of Libby were 1n the best posit1on because of the warm air circulating there.